Mountain lion attacks child on popular trail in Olympic National Park

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A 4-year-old child was attacked and injured over the weekend by a mountain lion while walking with family on a popular trail in Olympic National Park, park officials said Monday.

Park rangers were notified of the attack at around 3:15 p.m. Sunday, with initial reports saying that a collared mountain lion bit the child near the park’s Victoria Overlook area on Hurricane Ridge, according to a park news release.

Clallam County Fire District 2 paramedics and park staff responded, and the victim was flown to a trauma center, the news release said. The child was undergoing treatment as of Monday. The park, which said it was withholding identifying information to protect the child’s privacy, did not provide details of the child’s condition.

With assistance from a canine team, park rangers located the mountain lion shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday and “dispatched the animal” — a term commonly used to describe killing — on Monday morning, the news release said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mountain-lion-attacks-child-popular-224739136.html

[stopdiggin]

1. anyone who does any study of animal behavior

will readily admit that - occasionally - a specimen can just plain get a 'bug in the brain' - and act well outside of character. This incident is still something of an aberration. And it should be noted and reported on as such. On the other hand - we gain no ground whatsoever by insisting on the old shibboleths that, "Lions - or bears, or coyotes, or seals, or what-have-you, will never attack humans unprovoked .. " Those iron clad assurances are simply no longer true (if in fact they ever were) - but particularly in our modern world of greatly increased interactions ... Sometimes - occasionally - someone gets a bee in their bonnet ...